Governor of Nevada Rides in Autonomous Vehicle Designed at Freie Universität Berlin

Governor of Nevada Rides in Autonomous Vehicle Designed at Freie Universität Berlin

State of Nevada Testing Use of Autonomous Vehicles on the Road

№ 240/2015 from Aug 05, 2015

AutoNOMOS Labs at Freie Universität Berlin is intensifying its contacts with the state government of Nevada in the U.S. Brian Edward Sandoval, the governor of Nevada, recently tested the autonomous vehicle “MadeInGermany” (MIG) during a drive through the center of Berlin. Sandoval is currently on a tour of Europe in order to learn more about high-tech companies and projects that are important for several development initiatives in Nevada. Raúl Rojas, a professor of artificial intelligence at Freie Universität, along with members of the team Tinosch Ganjineh and Daniel Göhring, explained the technology employed in MIG to the delegation from Nevada. Representatives for the state's economic development invited AutoNOMOS Labs to set up a branch there. Plans are being made for testing an autonomous vehicle from Freie Universität in Nevada later this year. Due partly to its vicinity to Silicon Valley, Nevada is increasingly positioning itself as an attractive location for high-tech companies.

In 2013 Nevada was the first state in the U.S. to change its laws in order to permit testing and deployment of autonomous vehicles on public roads. In 2014 Tesla Motors, a car company in the U.S. that builds electric cars appealing to a broad customer base, announced that it was building a so-called Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, to produce batteries for all its vehicles. The batteries produced there will also be able to store power from solar cells.